The Centre will likely announce policy measures to bail- out ailing state power distribution companies in a couple of days, finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday.

The Centre will likely announce policy measures to bail- out ailing state power distribution companies in a couple of days, finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday.

The Centre will likely announce policy measures to bailout ailing state power distribution companies in a couple of days, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday.

“(The government is) likely to announce policy measures to de-stress power sector in couple of days,” Jaitley said at an event here organised by the World Economic Forum. Sources said the Cabinet is likely take up a proposal on the debt-laden state electricity boards (SEBs) on Thursday.

State electricity boards are a major contributor to the rise in bad loans of public sector banks, hurting their balance sheet and lending to various sectors of the economy.The combined losses of all SEBs in the country stood at Rs 62,426 crore in FY14. The four states – Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana — account for most of that.

Listing out other reforms in the pipeline, Jaitley said the government will bring a new bankruptcy code to make it easier for firms to exit business, in the winter session of Parliament. Also, it would try once again to build consensus to reform the land acquisition law.

On taxation, Jaitley said the government will announce the list of exemptions to be removed in a couple of days, a step aimed at simultaneously bringing down corporate tax rate to 25% from 30% in four years, beginning in FY17.